


That Time In The Place With The Thing

by Nope



Category: Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1636655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nope/pseuds/Nope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Cage and Peter Parker in the immediate aftermath of Secret Invasion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Time In The Place With The Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Liliaeth

_I hold to a simple philosophy: just assume everyone's  
a piece of crap and then be pleasantly surprised if you  
find anyone who ain't._   
\-- Brian Bendis, New Avengers #5

 
    
    
    NEW AVENGERS YULETIDE SPECIAL  
    
    BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS  
    
    THAT TIME IN THAT PLACE WITH THE THING  
      
    
    JRJR - so thrilled to be doing this.  
    
    As you may or may not know, there is thing coming up
    directly after Secret Invasion and this is sort of the
    beginning / prelude to the new team, a sort of where are we
    at breather.  There are stories for the other Avengers, but
    you're first, so Alex, Leinil and Jimmy will follow your
    lead.  I've sent some references for existing stuff, like
    the Watchtower.  
    
    Also, I write full script. But see it as a guide. You take
    us where we need to go any way you see fit. If you agree
    with my choices, fine. If not, you do what you got to do.  
    
    After the art is in I always re-script or polish and make
    sure its all smooth.  
      
      
    
    Page 1-  
    
    RECAP AND CREDITS PAGE  
    
    Earth's Mightiest Heroes united against a common threat! On
    that day The Avengers were born - to fight foes that no
    single hero could withstand!  
      
    
    Previously in the New Avengers...  
    
    SECRET INVASION!  Shape-shifting aliens known as the Skrulls
    have infiltrated every part of the superhuman community,
    turning friends into foes. Both the Avengers and the
    Thunderbolts have rallied to drive out the invaders and
    rescue the replaced heroes. Now, the imposter Spider-Woman
    has been revealed as the Skrull Queen - and the real Spider-
    Woman has returned!  But in a post invasion world of
    paranoia and distrust, where heroes are seen as villains and
    villains are seen as heroes, can anyone really be sure of
    anyone else?  
    
    Caught between crises, our Avengers find themselves having a
    rare quiet moment...  
      
      
    
    
    Page 2- 3  
    
    Double page spread  
    
    1- Ext. New York city - Avenger's tower - evening  
    
    Huge panel.  Wide of Manhattan.  The skyline, gearing up for
    night, lots of long shadows and lights, the giant Stark /
    Avengers tower stuck right up in the middle of it,
    dominating, a beacon of hope in the quiet city.  There's
    smoke coming up from park, Skrull ship wreckage, scaffolding
    and stuff as they clear it away.  
    
                    NORMAN OSBORN  
    
            And I want to make something perfectly
            clear... Stark Tech will no longer be
            used in any form of defence capacity or
            by the military.  
    
            Obviously the entirety of Stark
            Enterprises has been compromised to the
            point of uselessness.  
    
    
                    REPORTER  
    
            Will Tony Stark be indicted?

 
    
    
    2- Int. Stern's Apartment - Same  
    
    Looking out at the same skyline, Avengers tower, through the
    big glass windows of the apartment Danny found for the
    underground Avengers.  Edge of the big plasma screen TV in
    shot, maybe we can see NORMAN OSBORN's shoulder.  It's the
    only source of light in the room.  
    
                    NORMAN OSBORN  
    
            A full-scale investigation into what went
            on will be conducted and those deemed
            negligent will have to answer to a grand
            inquiry, whoever they--  
    
    
    Spx: click  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            This is...

 

 
    
    
    3- We're looking over the back of a sofa at the TV, and the
    back of PETER PARKER's head, angled so we still get a bit of
    that skyline through those windows.  LUKE CAGE is sat next
    to him, but he's all but out of shot here.  On the TV OSBORN
    is smirking it up, the crazy ****head, behind a big green
    MUTE sign.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            ...I don't even know what this is.  
    
    
            (Wish he had a mute button in real life.)  
    
            This is crazy town, population: us.

 

 
    
    
    4- Flip it, so we're looking at PETER and LUKE on the sofa.
    PETER is holding the remote, totally disgusted.  LUKE is
    looking at something in his hands - a baby's onesie.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I swear I've had this exact nightmare,
            right down to that god-awful tie of--  
    
    5
    
    
    - Same. PETER looking at LUKE, LUKE still looking down.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER
            --his.  
    
            ...  
    
            (Shut up, Peter.)  
      
      
    
    Page 4  
    
    1- Two shot, front on, PETER and LUKE.  
    
    2- PETER looks at LUKE.  
    
    
    3- Same  
    
    4- PETER looks away.  
    
    5- Same  
    
    6- PETER hunkers forward in his seat, playing with the
    remote.  
    
    7- PETER.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            We're gonna fix this.  
    
            I don't--  
    
    
            But we're gonna fix this.  
    
    8- LUKE.  
    
                    LUKE  
    
            Yeah.  
      
      
    
    Page 5  
    
    1- LUKE's POV. The onesie in his hand.  
    
    
    2- He spreads it out.  
    
    3- Hold, close.  Baby burp on it, just above his thumb.  
    
    4- He starts carefully folding it up.  
    
    5- Close on it, folded in his hands.  
    
    6- Same  
    
                    PETER PARKER
            Hey.  
    
    7- He starts spreading it out again, starting to look away.  
    
                    PETER PARKER
            This isn't--  
    
    
            You know what?  We should go out.  Let's
            go out. Get a drink or--  
    
            Or something.  Patrol.  
    
    8- LUKE's POV on PETER, who is trying to smile.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Patrol the bars, even.  Two for one.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            ...yeah.  
      
      
    
    Page 6- 7  
    
    Double page spread  
    
    1- Ext. New York - streets - night  
    
    It's later, pitch black except we can't tell that because
    we're practically drowning in neon adverts for sex and booze
    (but PG, JR).  The Avengers tower peeking over it.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            --so I get the call, and as soon as I
            answer, I get the tingle.  My spidey
            sense.  
    
    
            And he's doing the mook speak, you know?
            All vague and sinister and not actually
            telling you anything.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Hate that.  
    
                    PETER PARKER
            (Yeah.)  
    
            See, my spider-sense, it has a frequency.
            That's how my tracers work.  I can home
            in on it.  And this guy -  
    
            (who is smart enough to do this, but not
            to just get a damned job)  
    
    
            - is broadcasting on it, so I can follow
            him.  He wants to be caught, but he has
            to put on a show first.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            _Really_ hate that.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            And we get up on the bridge, him with his
            hostage and me with my, you know, not.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE
            Yeah.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Of course, he knows who I am.  My secret
            identity.  So that's a thing.  
    
    2- Int. Bar - Same  
    
    Rear overhead on PETER and LUKE, sat on stools at the bar.
    PETER is drinking beer out of a bottle, LUKE has a glass of
    whiskey (and empties on the bar).  (Check with Jeanne / Tom
    we can do this.  They edited that beer out of Superman for
    ****s sake.)  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            And I'm trying all the "let her go, it's
            me you want" stuff, which--  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            Never works.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Never ever works.  He just starts
            reminiscing.  Never mind the hostage, he
            wants to do the nostalgia trip.  
    
            So, I'm thinking, Chameleon, illusion
            mask powers thing--  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            No.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Yeah.  The hostage is fake.  She's a holo-
            gram or, or whatever.  He just faked the
            whole thing so I would talk to him.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE
            Wow.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Not even the end of it.  
    
            "What is it?" I ask him. "What is so
            important that you had to, to drag me all
            the way up here to tell me?"  
    
    
            And he says--  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            What?  
    
    3- Angled up the bar, across LUKE on PETER.  Both are
    smiling, drinking.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            He says, "I _love_ you, Peter."  
    
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            No!  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I swear to--  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            What- What did you do?  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I - (I'm not proud to admit this) - I
            cracked up.  I just cracked the hell
            up.  It was so bad.  I couldn't stop.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Wow.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            And he's trying to backpedal, like, "not
            in that way" and he starts laughing and
            I'm laughing and--  
    
    
            Right up on the top of that bridge, hero
            and villain, just yukking it up.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Ha!  
    
    4- Angled down the bar.  LUKE leaning on his arms over his
    drink smiling a little, PETER lifting his beer to drink.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Weird times.  
    
    
    5- Front on, across the bar, the two of them, lost in
    thought.  
    
    6- Angle on PETER, his head bowed, face in shadows.  LUKE,
    staring at his glass.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            He said I looked nice when I smiled.  
    
            Right before he jumped to his death.  
    
            ...  
    
            (Weird times.)  
    
    
    7- Angle on LUKE, throwing his glass back.  PETER hunched
    forward between his elbows, his hands on his head.  
      
      
    
    Page 8- 9  
    
    Double page spread.  
    
    1- Ext. New York - Street - Night  
    
    Later again.  Outside CLUB CINDERELLA, a cheesy, retro gin-
    joint.  Real speakeasy.  Kinda sleazy street traffic - our
    boys are off the beaten path here.  The Avengers tower still
    peeking over it; no escaping that thing.  
    
                    SINGER  
    
            A- one-  
    
    
            - two -  
    
            A - one - two - three -  
    
    2- Int. Club - same  
    
    Wide, view of the club across the tables.  There's a small
    stage, a SINGER, real Betty Boop thing going on.  House
    musicians off the way.  A clock face behind the stage says
    it's almost Midnight, although maybe that's just the decor.
    A bar up front, a few patrons here and there, everyone
    keeping much to themselves.  PETER and LUKE have grabbed an
    out of the way table.  
    
                    SINGER  
    
            I wanna be loved by you--  
    
            Yes - you --  
    
    
            Nobody else but you -  
    
            I wanna be loved by you --  
    
            Aaallonne --  
    
    3- Close on PETER, watching her over a coffee of all things.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Boop boop be doo.  
    
    
    4- Close on LUKE, trailing his finger around the rim of his
    glass.  
    
    5- Same
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            It was the Owl.  That's--  
    
            The first time I met Jessica.  
    
    6- Close on LUKE, head ducked, eyes closed, smiling a
    little.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            She was wearing this brown and black
            thing. Huge collar.  Mind you, I was
            wearing yellow silk and a motorcycle
            chain for a belt, so.  
    
    
    7- as 5  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Anyway, we do the thing - is he one of
            yours?  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Matt's.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            I thought, because of the animal name
            thing.  You have all those.  
    
    8- on PETER, pulling a face.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Yeah, no.  I don't know what's up with
            that.  There was this guy, said it was a,
            a, mystical thingy - I don't know.  
    
            But, no.  The Owl's not mine.  
    
    9- close on LUKE, reminiscing.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            Huh.  
    
            Anyway, we get it done, but then it turns
            out his kids are--  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            He brought his kids?  
    
    10- push in on LUKE  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            Yeah. (What a ****)  
    
            And the cops were gonna keep them at the
            station - ugh! - but Jessica--  
    
    11- his proud smile  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            --just took off her mask and offered to
            take care of them.  Their dad tried to
            blow her face off, but she.  
    
            Needed doing, she did it.  
    
    
            Just like that.  
    
    12- LUKE looking away from us.  
    
    13- He rubs at his forehead.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            She's a g-great mother.  
    
    14- PETER's hand on LUKE's shoulder.  Neither says anything.  
    
                    SINGER  
    
    
            Boop-boop-a-doop.  
      
      
    
    Page 10- 11  
    
    Double page spread  
    
    1- Ext. New York - Little Japan - Night  
    
    It's much later - we can tell because there's a big ornate
    dragon clock thing over the cafe that says it's three in the
    morning.  It's a twenty-four hour place, which we're gonna
    have to infer, because all the writing on the windows is
    Kanji.  We can imagine the Hand coming in here for some sake
    before going off to get killed fighting Elektra and
    Daredevil.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            --except he's still got his hands webbed
            up, right, so when he- ha - when he-  
    
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            hahaha  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            --when he pulls his whole, his _whole_
            moustache comes right out.  Right out!  
    
    2- Int. Japanese Cafe - Same  
    
    PETER and LUKE at a table, laughing, in a pretty much empty
    cafe.  A couple of Asian girls at the counter, an old GUY
    serving.  A little TV with the sound off, showing news
    footage.  There are empty ramen bowls on the table.  PETER
    and LUKE are drinking from small, brown, unmarked bottles.
    PETER's waving his around.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
    
            "Curse you, Spider-Man!"  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Oh, man!  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            And then - ha ha - then I get in the next
            day, right?  I come in to work and he's.
            he's glued it back to his lip, b-but--  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            It's upside down?  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            It's upside down!  
    
    3- they fall about the place, laughing way more than the
    story deserves.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            HA HA HA!  
    
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            HA HA HA!  
    
    4- on the two of them, coming down  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Ha ha!  Hehh!  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
    
            -ah-hehh.  Man.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Yeah.  
    
    5- companionable silence as they drink  
    
    6- LUKE, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            I haven't laughed like that since - god
            knows how long, man.  
    
    
    7- PETER couldn't agree more  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I hear you, man.  This has been one - I
            don't even know.  One hell of whatever it
            has been.  
    
    8- they're quiet again, both thinking  
    
    9- push in on PETER, lifting his drink  
    
    10- Flashback panel, faded: May is shot.  
    
    11- PETER, frozen  
    
    12- Flashback panel, faded: Mary-Jane Watson in the doorway  
    
    
                    MARY-JANE
                (faded)
            Face it, Tiger.  You just hit the jackpot.  
    
    13- he lowers his bottle without drinking, face dark  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            One Hell of thing.  
    
    14- he looks over at LUKE, expecting a response, but LUKE is
    looking away  
    
    15- angle from behind LUKE to show the TV; they're repeating
    OSBORN's speech again.  It's the big story of the day.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            What is with you and this ****?  What's
            the deal there?  
    
    16- PETER chuckles.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I'm so not drunk enough for that recap.  
      
      
    
    Page 12  
    
    1- two shot.  LUKE smirks into his drink.  PETER looks at
    him.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            ...what?  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            I didn't say nothing.  
    
    2- Same.  PETER, suspicious.  LUKE, drinking.  
    
    3- Same.  PETER, still suspicious.  LUKE looking at him.  
    
    4- Same.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            That was definitely a- a- a- A smirk is
            what that was.  
    
            Oh.  OH!  
    
            I see what this is!  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            What is this?  
    
    
    5- PETER points an accusing finger.  LUKE is all, who, me?  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            You think I'm a lightweight.  
    
            You- You- You think I can't hold my
            liquor.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Hey, you said the word.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            You smirked it!  
    
    6- LUKE is totally grinning now.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            I smirked 'lightweight'.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
    
            It was a volume.  It was a smirk of
            volumes.  A speaking, volume-y smirk of
            lightweight-ed-ness.  Is what it was.  
    
    7- LUKE is confused.  PETER is a bit too.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            I have no idea what you just said, man.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I was saying- What I was saying was--  
    
    
    8- On PETER.  He has no idea what he was saying.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I have _no_ idea what I was saying.  
    
            ...  
    
            Oh my god!  I _am_ a lightweight!  
    

 

 
    
    
    Page 13  
    
    
    1- LUKE waves at the COUNTER GUY.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Same again!  Ramen too!  
    
    2- He turns back to PETER.  
    
                    LUKE RAGE  
    
            All Danny's fault.  You've seen his
            office right?  You'd think he eats
            upmarket, but, no.  Instant ramen, man.
            Practically lives off the stuff.  
    
    3- On PETER, disgusted with himself.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            I bet Iron Fist's not a lightweight.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Doesn't ever drink.  Mystical thing.
            Nothing but that green tea ****.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            That's just showing off.  
    
    
    4- PETER slumps back in his seat.  
    
    5- Push in: his Spider-sense going off.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Whoa!  
    
    6- He jerks around to see  
    
    7- the COUNTER GUY bringing them steaming bowls of ramen.  
    
    8- on PETER, big eyed.  Not really that much of a threat.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
    
            Uh.  
    
            Wow.  
    
            Fast service.  Thanks.  
      
      
    
    Page 14  
    
    1- Both LUKE and PETER watch the COUNTER GUY wander
    implacably away.  
    
    2- LUKE looking at PETER still looking at the COUNTER GUY.  
    
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            What?  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            He makes me tingle.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            I did not need to know that.  
    
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            No, I mean, he set my spider-sense off.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Maybe he's the Mandarin.  
    
    3- PETER looking at LUKE, all, what you say?  LUKE, cool,
    reaching for his food.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
    
            The Mandarin is Chinese.  Also, I think
            he might be dead at the moment because of
            that Iron Man thing.  
    
            Extremis.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Could be a disguise.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            ...a disguise.  
    
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Could be.  
    
    4- PETER reaches for his own food as LUKE starts on his,
    eating with the bowl raised and chopsticks.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Could be I'm just a bit paranoid on
            account of Skrulls and the SHRA and how
            crazy man Osborn now runs the world with
            his private super-human army of
            cape-killers.  
    
            Seriously, it's right there in the name.  
    
    
    5- On LUKE, eating.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Man, what -- mmf - what's with you two?  
    
    6- On PETER waving his own chopsticks.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            Don't even get me started.  I don't even
            remember how it started now, it's been--  
    
            Sometimes I think I created the guy by
            becoming Spider-Man, you know?  Like my
            sheer existence forced him into being.  
    
    
            New force for good?  Massive force for
            evil.  It's--  It's thermodynamics in
            action:  
    
    7- On LUKE, bamboozled.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            You can't win, you can't break even, and
            you can't get out of the game.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Has anyone told you you're really - what
            is it - Emo.  You are seriously emo, man.  
    
    
    8- On PETER.  He's forcing it out.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            That guy--  He killed--  There was this
            girl, this _woman_ I loved, and he--  And
            then he died and came back and had me
            cloned and all sorts of--  
      
      
    
    Page 15  
    
    1- On PETER, hands and head down.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
    
            There was-- And Mary-Jane lost the--  
    
    2- On LUKE, confused  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Lost the--?  
    
    3- Big shock reaction as he works it out.  
    
    4- Stunned, he sits back.  
    
    5- the two of them at the table, both lost in their own
    pain.  
    
    
    6 - same  
    
    7 - same; we can see a couple of people running past the
    window outside  
    
    8 - an explosion explodes outside.  Both LUKE and PETER
    looking round.  
    
                    PETER PARKER  
    
            (Oh thank god.)  
      
      
    
    Page 16- 17  
    
    Double page spread  
    
    
    1- Ext. New York - Little Japan - night  
    
    Big burning laundry building.  Lots of flames and smoke.
    Dark figures leaping out of it.  
    
    2- They land in front of us, a dozen androgynous,
    practically identical figures in robes and white KABUKI
    masks, all carrying various bladed staff weapons, and bags
    they've just stolen.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            ...huh.  
    
    3- shot from above/behind the KABUKI KRIMINALS; LUKE and
    SPIDER-MAN are staring at the criminals.  SPIDER-MAN is
    dangling upside down on a webline from the street-lamp.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
    
            Ninja mimes.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Kabuki.  It's a dance-drama thing.  Maya
            did it.  
    
    4- Push in on LUKE and SPIDER-MAN.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Dancing ninja mimes.  That's a--  
    
    
            ...  
    
            Yeah, I got nothing.  
    
    5- Close on LUKE, grinning.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
            Lightweight.  
    
    6- close on a KABUKI mask, blank white eyes, menacing.  
    
    7- wide shot, as they spring into action - all of them,
    KABUKI on this side, LUKE bull-charging, SPIDER-MAN leaping.  
      
      
    
    Page 18- 19  
    
    Double page spread  
    
    1- LUKE crashes through the KABUKI.  
    
    2- SPIDER-MAN dodges a scythe swing, kicking the weapon's
    owner while shooting webs into another's face, and also
    shooting out a line to grab one of the bags.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Stealing other people's laundry.  That's
            a new one on me.  
    
            Yoink!  
    
    
    3- As SPIDER-MAN catches the bag, sliding overhead in the
    background towards a wall, LUKE back-elbows one KABUKI while
    catching the staff-weapon of another.  
    
                    LUKE  
    
            Aargh!  
    
    4- Angled over SPIDER-MAN's shoulder as, sticking to the
    wall, he looks in the bag.  It's full of money.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            I hear green _is_ the new black.  
    
                    LUKE CAGE  
    
    
            _Black_ is always the new black, man.  
    
    5- SPIDER-MAN leaps away from the wall, twisting between two
    KABUKI blades that just narrowly miss him.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Guys - (or ladies, no offence) - it only
            takes two to tango; why--  
    
    5- The KABUKI whose weapon LUKE grabbed smashes into the two
    that attacked SPIDER-MAN, knocking them down.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Hey!  I was mid quip!  
    
    
    6- He sees that LUKE doesn't really care - he's too busy
    lunging at another KABUKI, roaring, shirt cut to pieces but
    he doesn't care because, hey, indestructible skin.  
    
    7- SPIDER-MAN uses the money-bag-on-a-web to clothesline a
    couple of KABUKI.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Keep the change.  
    
                    KABUKI  
    
            UNF!  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
    
            (Yeah, that was pretty bad.)  
    
    8- LUKE is totally wailing on the crowd, just punching the
    **** out of this guy.  SPIDER-MAN watching in the
    background.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Er.  You need a hand there, big guy?  
    
    9- LUKE breaks a staff weapon on a guy's head, while booting
    another in the nutz.  That would be a no.  
    
    10- LUKE hits one of the KABUKI with another of the KABUKI.  
    
    11- SPIDER-MAN watching LUKE kick ass and not take names.  
    
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            Right.  
    
            (I'll just sit here, then.)  
    
    12- And he does, webbing one guy to the floor without moving
    from the spot, lots of downed KABUKI around them, LUKE just
    beating on the rest, sheer force of nature.  
      
      
    
    Page 20  
    
    1- LUKE, chucking a bashed KABUKI away, looks around to see
    who's left.  
    
    
    2- Worm eye. The last KABUKI hits him in the chest with a
    spear, which is exactly as useless as you'd think.  
    
    3- Push in on LUKE all "You kidding me?"  
    
    4- He casually breaks the spear in two, reaching for the
    KABUKI.  
    
    5- Push in as LUKE punches him.  
    
    6- In as he does it again, broken mask flying (we never see
    the KABUKI's face).  
    
    7- In, his fist, more blood.  
    
    8- In, his other fist, more blood.  
    
    9- Angle from behind, LUKE holding the smashed KABUKI in his
    clenched fists - the criminal is totally limp, we can tell
    he's busted without being able to see his face.  A shadow
    falls on him.  
    
    10- he spins - huge fist, big blur of a background.  
    
    
                    LUKE  
    
            RARRRRR!  
      
    
    Page 21  
    
    1- big panel.  SPIDER-MAN catches LUKE's blow, just stops it
    dead, open-palmed.  Give us a sense of how strong SPIDER-MAN
    is, how much he usually holds back.  LUKE is enraged,
    lunging into the caught blow, but SPIDER-MAN is cool, just
    stood there.  
    
    2- Close. There's a moment.  LUKE, wild.  SPIDER-MAN, zen.  
    
    3- Close. LUKE sags a little.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
    
            Okay?  
    
                    LUKE  
    
            I-  Yeah.  
    
    4- Two shot.  They both drop their hands, just standing
    there.  LUKE looking down, rubbing the knuckles of the hand
    SPIDER-MAN caught, because, ow.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            We're gonna-  
    
    
            Hey--!  
    
    5- Close. SPIDER-MAN puts his hands on LUKE's shoulders,
    making LUKE look at him, making us look at him.  
    
                    SPIDER-MAN  
    
            We are going to get your baby back, safe
            and sound.  
    
    6- Close on LUKE, digesting this.  
    
    7- He starts to sob, silently, leaning into SPIDER-MAN.  
      
      
    
    
    Page 22  
    
    1- Full page.  SPIDER-MAN has wrapped his arms around LUKE,
    the two of them small in the middle of the fallen downed
    KABUKI, scattered broken weapons and spilled money, the
    building still burning off to one side, the rest of little
    Japan cosy around them as the smoke rises - but, as we
    follow it up, we once again find the Avengers tower
    dominating the skyline, the Watchtower light staring down at
    us like some ominous giant searching eye...


End file.
